Real Estate Sales are Down

However, that's only part of the story. Let me provide some numbers to illustrate that the actual number of new listings year-to-date (YTD) has also decreased. With fewer options available and increasing pressure on affordability, potential buyers are facing challenges when it comes to finding suitable housing in our area.

In the news, you may have heard about the housing inventory shortage our country is experiencing. Essentially, this means that despite the affordability concerns, there is more demand for housing than there are available homes. This shortage can be traced back to builders not constructing enough homes over the past 14 years. There are various nationwide factors contributing to this situation. Many builders were hesitant to start building over the past 14 years due to losses they experienced during the Great Recession. Remember, this was caused by poor lending policies and loans extended to individuals who couldn't afford them. While some builders left the industry altogether, most proceeded with extreme caution.

In our specific area, we face additional challenges, including an extremely limited supply of buildable land due to factors like wetlands, flood zones, and the hilly topography. State lawmakers have made efforts to expand accessory dwelling standards in certain zones, and local counties and municipalities have been working to maximize the benefits while minimizing negative impacts on communities.

To make matters more complex, there are long waiting times and significant costs associated with obtaining building permits, further complicating the issue.

So this the Market Crashing? Who Am I to predict the future? If you can navigate beyond the clickbait headlines, there are some well-cited articles by smart people who are studying the market closely.

"In a recent Forbes article, 'Housing Market Predictions For 2023: When Will Home Prices Be Affordable Again?' by Robin Rothstein, it was stated that:

'Despite some areas seeing price declines, the likelihood of a housing market crash—a rapid drop in unsustainably high home prices due to waning demand—still remains low. Experts point out that today’s homeowners stand on much more secure footing than those coming out of the 2008 financial crisis, with many borrowers having positive equity in their homes.

“Homeowner equity is at the highest level it’s been in the past several decades, so homeowners have a lot of value in their home,” says Nicole Bachaud, an economist at Zillow.’"

Here is a link to the full article!